Hysteria
by justanormalgirl357
Summary: Alihotsy is good for some things. RonNeville. Oneshot.


Title: Hysteria  
Rating: PG  
Pairing: Ron/Neville  
Length: 1254, oneshot  
Genre: Romance/General  
Summary: Alihotsy is good for sime things.  
Note: Written for humpday101 over at livejournal with the prompt 'I think I forgot' (fluff)

* * *

Neville notices a lot more then people think. He notices that Ginny taps her middle finger on the inside of her thigh when she is in a hurry. He notices that Hermione's nagging with Ron and Harry turned from her being annoyed to her voice curving fondly around the words. He notices the way Dean bites his bottom lip when he finds something he wants to drawl. He notices that Parvati walks with a slight spring in her step if she's received some interesting gossip. He notices that Colin had stopped taking as many pictures as usual now that he's got a girlfriend. He notices Harry pulls into himself more then usual and that Lavender's ears turn pink when she's lying. He notices that how Seamus gets out of his bed depicts his mood.

But mostly he notices Ron.

He notices that when Ron eats, the pinky on his left hand is curled under his palm. He notices that after a shower Ron sniffles four times from the steam. He notices that Ron's right thumb is slightly longer than the left. He notices that when angry Ron's whole body gets red, even his feet. He notices that Ron looks best in blue and worst in scarlet. He also notices that either Ron's huge, long crush on Hermione has dwindled down or they're together in secret.

What Neville doesn't notice is that Ron's attentions have simply transferred to someone else.

* * *

"Where are you going?" Ron yelled, leaping up from his spot in front of the chessboard. Harry furrowed his brow and watched Ron bound over to Neville, who was about to go out the portrait hole. Ron would never leave a game, especially not when he was winning. Which was every time.

Neville paused and waited for Ron to stop in front of him so he wouldn't have to shout. Some of the common room was looking their way, making Neville felt uncomfortable.

"To the greenhouses." Neville showed him the herbology book tucked under his arm. "I'm doing extra credit."

"Extra credit?" Ron scoffed. "Don't you like, have one of the best grades in the class?"

"No." Neville smiled. "I'm okay at the class but not that good. That's why I'm doing extra credit."

Ron rolled his eyes but looked around before he grabbed Neville's wrist and looked down at him - Ron being taller. "Is anyone going to be with you?" he asked. The grip on Neville's wrist was warm and comforting. He didn't want it to go away. "Because it's not safe, you know. You should have someone with you."

"I think Professor Sprout might be down for a bit." He watched curiously as Ron tapped his fingers against his leg. Neville was pretty sure that meant he wanted something badly. "You can come with, if you want," Neville told him, watching his fingers still and knowing that was what he had wanted.

"Great, cause, you know, for safety." Ron opened the portrait door and walked out. Neville blinked then followed after.

Once the portrait shut Harry looked at Hermione. "What's with that?" he asked, bewildered by the fact that Ron had just left the game. Hermione shrugged but she was sucking on her top lip in deep thought, gazing at the spot Ron and Neville had just vacated.

* * *

Ron was never one to realize things. Back in fourth year, he hadn't realized that he wanted to go with Hermione to the Yule Ball until too late. He hadn't realized that he was spending much more time with Neville. He hadn't realized he thought about Neville as much as Harry and Hermione, and perhaps a little more. He also didn't realize that his crush on Hermione had dissolved.

But mostly he hadn't realized his attentions had moved to someone he least expected.

That is, until he found out how that very person felt about him.

* * *

Ron was swinging his arms as he strolled down to the greenhouses with Neville. It was a nice evening. The sky was a light purple with stars just starting to peek out and stare at them. Every now and then Ron's arm would nudge against Neville, who would stiffen and stumble a bit. Ron thought it was funny so he did it more often.

"H-here we are," Neville said unnecessarily, opening the glass door and letting Ron enter before him. He rubbed at his arm when Ron's back was turned.

Ron scrunched his nose and looked in distaste at the plants strategically placed in no general order. "I never liked the smell in here. All earthy and dirt."

Neville smiled and inhaled deeply. He, on the other hand, loved the smell. The rich dirt mixing with healthy, live plants filled his nostrils. There was a faint pungent scent. Neville closed his eyes and inhaled again. He knew the smell; it was of a dead plant.

"Erm…having fun?" Ron asked, chuckling softly.

Neville shook his head and searched the greenhouse for the dead plant. His forehead was drawn up in concern. Usually Professor Sprout didn't have dead plants in her greenhouses. She took very good care of them, after all.

In the back corner of the room there sat a pitiful shriveled plant. There was a faint grey smoke line evaporating into the air right atop of it. Neville recognized it as Alihotsy and remembered that when the smoke turned from white to grey it was dead.

"Oh, Merlin, it stinks!" Ron gasped, clutching at his nose and gagging. The smell was rather bad, Neville reasoned. He grabbed the pot and set it on a partially cleared table.

"It's dead," Neville said as he pulled off the few leaves that managed to escape the disaster of death. It must have died recently.

"Is that why it reeks!" Ron scooped the leaves into a pile and dumped them into a bag Neville asked him to get. "Why are you saving the leaves?"

Neville wiped his forehead with his sleeve. It was really warm in the greenhouse. "Alihotsy leaves cause hysteria," he informed Ron. "They are used in some potions."

"Oh." Ron was quiet for a beat, then, "Why would you use something that makes you hysteria-ic."

Neville laughed at his odd choice of words. "It is diluted with certain other plants, and sometimes hysteria can be good."

Ron blinked at him.

"Well, some people might want to make a potion that makes you hysteric, at least."

They worked in silence for a bit. Neville was highly aware of how close Ron was standing and hoped his face wasn't flushing. Whenever Ron reached across Neville to grab the leaves his waist would bump against Neville's. Neville stopped placing leaves on his left and stuck with putting them on the right, in front of Ron.

"What are you _doing_?" Ron shrieked as he watched Neville push in thumb into the light blue plant, the skin of it giving away with a sucking sound.

Neville brought his finger out and saw it was covered in green gunk. He smiled. So it _had_ recently died. If it were totally dead, the inside would be black. Just to make sure the inside would be good, Neville tapped his tongue on his finger, drawling a dab of the green stuff into his mouth. It tasted sweet, like those muggle candies his gran had got once. Candy hearts she called them.

"Ew!" Ron moaned and clutched at his stomach.

"No, no," Neville protested. "It's good. It's sweet."

"But won't it make you hysteria-ic?" Ron eyed Neville's finger warily, as if it was going to suddenly start dancing the tango or something.

Neville sucked the green confection off his thumb and sunk his finger in the Alihotsy again. When he pulled it out the plant wound sucked gently at his finger. "Nope. That's just the leaves. This is used in some candy. Like sugar quills."

Ron seemed to brighten at that but he still looked unsure. Neville waved his green finger in Ron's direction and said, "Try it. It's really good."

The green stuff really did look nasty and the plant was giving off such a rancid smell that Ron was having trouble believing Neville. There was no way something that smelled that bad would taste good. But he was curious.

He looked at the faded blue plant and then at the gaping hole. There was no way he would reach in that thing and so he did the only other option. Ron leaned forward and placed his lips around Neville's finger. He thought he hear Neville gasp, but he was busy running his tongue around Neville's thumb, trying to get every last trace off it because - damn did it taste good!

Ron pulled back and Neville could do nothing but stare at him and will his heart to slow down. He hoped Ron couldn't hear it. Then Ron looked at him, taking in Neville's flushed look, glazed eyes, and immobile state and a red heat engulfed his ears. Neville wondered if his feet were red too.

"Erm," Neville muttered and Ron understood.

* * *

Neville was clumsy. He was unsure. He was forgetful. Those were some ways he'd been described in his life. The nicer ones. Of course there were some nicer than that but they made Neville blush so he didn't think of them too much. Sometimes people were too nice.

Along with those descriptions, Neville was used to making a fool out of himself. There were the multiple times he'd mucked up potions terribly in class. There was the time he'd written passwords on a slip of paper and Sirius Black had found it. There was the time he tried a new defense spell out and instead made his clothes turn a bright shade of pink.

And now there was the time he let Ron Weasley find out he fancy's him.

Neville was used to not having his romantic feeling returned so he didn't expect anything else. But this one was different. This was Ron, who told Harry and Hermione everything. And then Hermione would let Ginny know, who would tell Colin. And Parvati would prod it out of him and the next thing Neville knows she would be springing around telling everyone, and Neville's secret would be out.

Neville really wished he could be someone else sometimes.

* * *

Ron wondered if he was coming down with hysteria because why else would he have done that? Why else would he be presently standing in front of Neville, opening and closing his mouth like a fish struggling for air, and feeling the red in his ears spread down his neck and across his face? Ron conveniently ignored the fact that he'd sucked on Neville's finger before he had any hysteria-inducing gunk in his system.

"I think I forgot something," Neville said hastily, not wanting to hear whatever was going to spew out of Ron's mouth. The denial or disgust that would come. Neville made to dash when Ron grabbed his arm, holding him in place.

Thoughts were whizzing past each other in Ron's head. Why had he done that? That plant tasted good. Why wasn't he disgusted? Neville's finger was rather smooth. He'd have to get one of those plants sometime. What's for breakfast tomorrow?

The last strange thought brought Ron to the present. He saw he was holding Neville's arm, keeping him from rushing away. Ron didn't remember stopping him.

"You don't have to say anything," Neville spoke softly, his eyes trained on the dusty, leaf-scattered floor. "We can pretend it never happened."

Maybe it was the hysteria moving Ron forward, but Ron highly doubted it. He wanted to feel Neville's lips and maybe his tongue in his mouth. How would that taste?

Neville was surprised and his eyes darted up to Ron's close face when he felt lips landing on his own. Ron was kissing him. He parted his mouth at Ron's request and their tongues tangled together sloppily. It was much more than he could have wished for.

Ron smiled against Neville's lips. The earthy scent didn't smell all to bad coming off Neville, and if he concentrated on the boy sliding arms hesitantly around his waist, Ron could almost forget the rancid smelling plant beside them, and everything felt right.

* * *

Ron always thought he would end up with a nice girl, get married, and have many children, though hopefully not as many as his parents. What he hadn't expected was to date Neville Longbottom.

But he liked it, and that was all that mattered.

Besides, his future was still open. He could still settle down with a girl and have a family but right now, twined against Neville, he doubted that. Maybe he would be with Neville for the rest of forever. But really, it didn't matter because Neville tightened his grip on Ron and sighed in his ear. Ron decided he was very content where he was.


End file.
